Nobody broke into our place and the air conditioning worked great, so better off than near khao san road. The markets down the street are predominately for locals, so if you want cheap local food, this is a good place (unlike, again, khao san road, where they put catsup in the phad thai!). It was louder than I expected: birds cawing outside the window dawn to dusk, moderate noise from all the adjacent rooms (downside of wood building), water splashing in the alley late at night. Surprisingly, no noise from the light industry in the area.